Govt Sabotaging NECO, Says Former Board Chairman

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Former Chairman of the Board of the National Examination Council (NECO) Professor Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, shocked a large gathering made up of educationists and policy makers in Minna Niger State at the weekend when he declared that the government, especially some officials in the Ministry of Education, are out to sabotage the indigenous examination body.

Professor Mohammed, who said he did not owe anyone any apology for his outburst, alleged that some government officials don’t want NECO to exist.

The officials, he said, first withdrew the N6billion found in the account of NECO, “till date the money has not been returned to the examination body, and nobody is even bothered to inform us what they did with the money.”

According to him, the money was examination fees collected from candidates, adding that “it is still a mystery how we conducted the examinations.”

Apart from this, he declared that the federal government has not released even a kobo as subvention to NECO for the running of the organisation.

Going further, the former board chairman, who spoke at the first award ceremony organised by the organisation,  said there was an agreement on how NECO and WAEC should rotate the conduct of their examinations “but these government officials shows preference for WAEC, making the regional body to permanently conduct it’s examinations between May and June.”

He alleged that those against NECO in the government and the ministry are also using the Orosanye report to stifle the organisation.

“Despite the anti-NECO stance of the government and some of its officials, the organisation has been able to break boundaries,” saying educational institutions outside Africa now prefer NECO examination results to those of other examination bodies.

Also, the Registrar of NECO, Professor Danlami Wushishi, at the forum announced the introduction of scholarships for candidates that comes out tops in the gifted children examination.

Wushishi commended the dedication to duty by the staff of the organisation, saying: “My staff members have not failed me.”